corrente

I'm starting to think that there is, in fact, a winger purity test (back): It consists of being able to ignore the grossest possible contradictions between their values and their actions. The wingers might be able to do so well on this test because of WPS; or because of be a spiritual condition, called "being a Pharisee" (back); or because of something much more sinister: plain Orwellian doublethink—the mindset that enables totalitarian rule.

Regardless, ordinary people—at least those who've gone to AA or Al-Anon, unlike, alas, Inerrant Boy—have a catchier phrase for doublethink and its discontents: "Talk the talk without walking the walk."

Let's watch Bush's Enabler-in-Chief, Condi-lie-zza Rice, talk the talk:

Here is Condoleezza Rice, the new secretary of state, explaining last month what will guide her policy: "The world should apply what Natan Sharansky calls 'the town square test': if a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a fear society has finally won their freedom."
(via Times)

(This is in the context of a Times book review of Natan Sharansky's recent book, "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror," which apparently everyone in the Blest Wing is reading. It's a measure of the bankruptcy the Times—its absolute inability to connect one news event to another—that they miss the obvious consequences of Condi's remarks: Bush has created a fear society in the United States.

Now, et's watch the Bush administration walk the walk.

Set the wayback machine to October 2004, at a Partei rally in West Virginia. Xan writes (quoting Atlanta-Journal Constitution):

Like many Americans, Jeff and Nicole Rank have an opinion about their president. They wore it on T-shirts they unveiled after entering the West Virginia State Capitol grounds to hear him speak.

The his-and-hers shirts included a photo of the president and the word "Bush" with the international "no" symbol. His shirt also said, "Regime change starts at home." Hers said, "Love America, Hate Bush."

Shortly after the Ranks revealed the shirts, two men they believe worked for the Secret Service or the White House demanded that they remove or cover them. The Ranks refused and were arrested, handcuffed and jailed on trespassing charges.

Welcome to the wacky world of winger delusion: In Paris, quoting a book, being arrested for expressing one's views in "the public square" is a sign of a fear society. But in America, in a presidential campaign, the very same thing happens—and Condi is silent. And, amazingly (or not) the Times doesn't pick up the blatant contradiction.

Walk the walk?!

These guys aren't even trying to walk the walk. They're not even dragging their knuckles and shamelessly calling that walking! They're not even crawling! They don't know what walking the walk means!

NOTE: There are too many links for me to list, that show Bush creating a fear society here; if you want detail on His efforts during Campaign 2004, enter "MBF Watch" into the search box at the top of the page. [It's bad, but it's the best we have.]